KR100954070B1 - A method of generating and transmitting a signal and An apparatus for generating and sending encoded digital video signals - Google Patents

Abstract

A method 200 and apparatus 100 are disclosed for displaying, on a remote display device, digitally encoded video signals that include status information or a user command from a device to a remote display device. The method includes generating (216 or 220) at least one digitally encoded representation indicative of a user command or status information; And in response to a user command, at least one of the plurality of pictures by replacing at least a portion of the picture with a digitally encoded display so that the display can be decoded and displayed when the picture is decoded and displayed by the remote display device. Modifying step 218. The method further comprises reading a digitally encoded signal from a storage medium contained in the apparatus, wherein the generating and modifying steps may be performed during the reading step. Alternatively, the generating step may be performed prior to the reading step.

Intra macroblocks, user commands, status information, digitally encoded representations

Description

A method of generating and transmitting a signal and An apparatus for generating and sending encoded digital video signals}

The present invention relates generally to video playback and recording systems, and more particularly to video playback and recording systems that generate video signals for display on a display device.

Digital televisions (DTVs) and high-definition televisions (HDTVs) are gaining popularity in the consumer electronics market today. Many buyers of these types of televisions play or record digital video such as digital video disc (DVD) recorders or DVD players for the purpose of watching previously recorded programs or recording their favorite programs. You can also buy the systems. In particular, the combination of a DTV (or HDTV) and a playback or recording system can be an integral part of a home theater entertainment system.

Digital video playback or recorder systems typically include an MPEG decoder for decoding digitally encoded multimedia data stored on the discs on which the recorder is played. If a digital video playback or recording system is connected to a conventional (non-DTV or non-HDTV) television, the digitally encoded signal will be decoded by the MPEG decoder of the playback or recorder system before being displayed on the conventional television. . However, almost all DTVs include their own MPEG decoders. As such, if a playback or recorder system is connected to the DTV, the system may be arranged such that the encoded digital video signal read from the system storage disk is transmitted and decoded remotely by the decoder of the DTV.

However, there is a significant disadvantage of decoding digitally encoded signals with a remote DTV decoder. That is, it is very difficult to provide an on screen display (OSD) in this kind of configuration. In general, DVD recorders and conventional televisions include complementary circuitry for generating OSD signals. The OSD is a user interface that can be on program images by an overlay to notify the user of specific digital playback or recorder system functions. For example, if a DVD recorder performs a fast forward trick mode at three times the normal playback speed (3X), the OSD can display this information on the screen of a conventional television when the trick mode is executed.

There are several reasons why OSD signal generation is delayed by the playback or recorder system / DTV configuration described above. First, the decoder of the DTV is remotely located from the playback or recorder system, making it difficult to reproduce the OSD signals in the DTV since the DTV is generally unaware of the functions performed by these systems. In addition, generating the OSD signal at the playback or recorder device and incorporating the OSD signal into the bitstream sent to the DTV may cause this bitstream to exceed the bandwidth limit between the playback or recorder system and the DTV. Accordingly, what is needed is a method and system for generating and displaying OSDs that display functions performed by a device that may be remote from the display device without increasing system costs or complexity.

The present invention provides a method for generating a user command or status information with a digitally encoded video signal comprising a plurality of pictures including one or more modified pictures and transmitting the same to a remote display device having a decoder. The method includes generating at least one digitally encoded representation indicative of a user command or status information; And modifying at least one of the plurality of pictures by replacing at least a portion of the picture with a digitally encoded display so that the display can be decoded and displayed when the picture is decoded and displayed by the remote display device. .

In one configuration, the method further comprises reading a digitally encoded signal from a storage medium contained in the apparatus, wherein the generating and modifying steps may be performed during the reading step. Alternatively, the generating step may be performed before the reading step, and the modifying step may be performed during the reading step. In this case, in response to an event requiring display of a user command or status information, the generating step is followed by the step of storing the digitally encoded representation in the storage device and accessing the representation to modify the image. In either embodiment, at least some of the indications may consist of intra macroblocks. In configurations in which the generation step may be performed prior to the reading step, the indication may be stored in a table for access during the modification step.

Also, in either embodiment, the picture may be a bidirectional predictive picture. The bidirectional predictive picture may comprise a plurality of slices, each slice comprising a plurality of picture macroblocks. Also, the portion of the bidirectional predictive picture replaced by the intra macroblocks that includes the indication may be a predetermined number of the plurality of picture macroblocks in at least one of the plurality of slices. Moreover, at least one of the plurality of picture macroblocks in at least one of the plurality of slices is replaced by one of the intra macroblocks containing the indication and is located at the end of the corresponding slice of the picture macroblock.

The invention also provides an apparatus for generating and transmitting a digitally encoded video signal comprising a plurality of images, including images modified to include a digitally encoded representation of a user command or status information, the digital display comprising: The encoded video signal is to be decoded and displayed by the remote display device. The apparatus comprises: a signal input for receiving a digitally encoded video signal representing a plurality of pictures; A generator for generating a user command or a digitally encoded representation representing status information associated with the device; At least one of the plurality of pictures in the encoded digital video signals by replacing at least a portion of the picture with the digitally encoded display so that the display is decoded and displayed when the picture is decoded and displayed on the display device. A processor coupled to the generator for modifying a picture in response to an event requiring the display of the user command or the status information; And a signal output for transmitting to the display device an output signal comprising the digitally encoded video signal having a modified image.

1 is a block diagram of a system capable of generating a user interface for digital televisions in accordance with the inventive arrangements herein.

2 is a flow diagram illustrating a user interface generation operation for digital televisions in accordance with the inventive configurations.

FIG. 3A illustrates a slice of a bidirectional predictive picture in which the slice includes a plurality of macroblocks in accordance with inventive configurations. FIG.

3B illustrates another slice of a bidirectional predictive picture in which a slice comprises a plurality of macroblocks in accordance with inventive embodiments.

The above and other features and advantages of the present invention, and methods including the same, will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the present invention taken with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The illustrations described herein are intended to illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention, and such illustrations should not be construed in any way as limiting the scope of the invention.

The system 100 for implementing the original configurations is shown in block diagram form in FIG. However, the present invention is not limited to the particular system illustrated in FIG. 1, as the present invention may be practiced with any other system capable of receiving a digitally encoded signal and transmitting that signal to a display device. This includes any digital video playback or recorder system. In addition, as any storage medium capable of storing digitally encoded data can be used in the system 100, such as optical media and hard disk drives, the system 100 provides data from any particular type of storage medium. It is not limited to reading or writing data to it.

System 100 includes a controller 110 for reading data from and writing data to storage medium 112. The system 100 also includes a microprocessor 114, a search engine 116, an encoder / decoder (codec) 118, a display device 120, and a table or memory 124. Codec 118 includes suitable software and circuitry for encoding and decoding video signals, including signals read from storage medium 112 and generated at generator 122. In addition, control and data interfaces allow microprocessor 114 to control the operation of controller 112, search engine 116 and codec 118, and microprocessor 114 access table 124. It may be provided to enable. Appropriate software or firmware may be provided in memory for conventional operations performed by microprocessor 114. In addition, program routines may be provided for the microprocessor 114 in accordance with the inventive configurations. It should be understood that all or some of the microprocessor 114, codec 118 and table 124 may be considered to form the generator 122 within the contemplation of the present invention.

In operation, controller 110 may read a digitally encoded video signal comprising a plurality of pictures from storage medium 112. The microprocessor 114 may receive a user command and the video signal may be sent to the search engine 116. Search engine 116 may search for the appropriate image in the video signal that may be modified to insert the OSD signal. Once a suitable picture is found, search engine 116 signals microprocessor 114, and microprocessor 114 and codec 118 retrieve user instructions or status information that can be used to replace at least a portion of the picture. Generate a digitally encoded representation that is representative. As such, a digitally encoded representation representing a user command may be generated as the encoded video signal is read from the storage medium 112.

In alternative embodiments, microprocessor 114 may instruct codec 118 to generate one or more digitally encoded representations indicative of one or more user instructions or status information. The generated indication may be stored in a table 124 accessible by the microprocessor 114 when needed. Once the microprocessor 114 receives an event requiring the display of a user command or user information, the microprocessor 114 accesses a digitally encoded representation from the table 124 indicating the command, or status information, and selects the selected picture. Instruct at least a portion of the codec 118 to replace the previously generated representation.

In any configuration, a video signal including the modified pictures can be transmitted to the display device 120 and decoded by a decoder included in the display device 120 to generate a signal representing an image including the on-screen display. Let's do it. As the modified image is displayed on the display device 120, an indication of the modified image may also be displayed. The overall operation of the invention will be described in more detail below.

2 shows a flow diagram 200 illustrating one way in which a user interface for a digital television can be generated. In step 210, a video signal comprising a plurality of pictures may be transmitted from a video signal source to a display device. In one configuration, the video signal may be a digitally encoded video signal read from a storage medium included in the video signal source. In addition, the display device may be remotely located from the video signal source since the display device is a separate entity with respect to the video signal source. Moreover, the display device may include its own decoder such that at least a portion of the digitally encoded signal is decoded within the display device.

In step 212, a user command is received. At decision block 214, if a pre-generated indication indicative of a user command is not used for displaying the indication, flow chart 200 continues at step 220. As shown at 220, a digitally encoded representation may be generated that indicates user command or status information. This type of occurrence may be referred to as generating an indication "on the fly." Alternatively, if a pre-generated indication is used, as shown in step 216, the pre-generated indication indicating the user command may be fetched from a table, for example. In step 218, at least one picture from the plurality of pictures in the video signal is modified by replacing at least a portion of the picture with a display, whether it was previously generated or during operation. Thus, if an indication occurs during operation, the generating step (step 220) and the modifying step (step 218) may be performed as the digitally encoded video signal is read from the storage medium. If the indication has been generated beforehand, the modifying step (step 218) may be performed as the signal is read out, but the generating step (step 216) may be performed before the digitally encoded signal is read out from the storage medium.

In step 222, the modified picture (including an indication indicative of a user command) is decoded by a decoder in the display device such that the modified picture is displayed so that the on-screen display is indicative of user command or status information as the picture is displayed. Is displayed. At decision block 224, if display of the indication continues, processing to generate a user interface may continue at step 212. Otherwise, flow chart 200 stops at step 226. Thus, in accordance with the inventive configurations discussed in flow chart 200, the user may view any user command or status displays generated by the reader / player, whether initiated automatically or by the user.

Returning to the generating steps (steps 220 and 216) and the modifying step (step 218), in one configuration, at least a portion of the indication, whether previously generated or generated during operation, may consist of macroblocks. By way of example, these macroblocks may be intra (I) macroblocks. These I macroblocks can be used to replace a portion of the picture to be replaced. However, it is understood that the present invention is not so limited as the indication may be any other suitable form of data that may be inserted into an image for the purpose of presenting a user command. In another configuration, the picture to be corrected in step 218 is a bidirectional predictive (B) picture. Modifying the B pictures in accordance with step 218 can reduce the effects of any artifacts that may appear in the display of the modified picture, as no pictures in the video signal are typically predicted from the B pictures. . However, in particular, the present invention is not limited to this, as other pictures such as I and predictive (P) pictures can be modified according to the original configurations.

The following discussion illustrates an example of how a picture can be modified such that an indication can be inserted into and displayed in the picture. As will be explained below, this discussion can be applied to I, P and B pictures. However, this example will mainly focus on how the B picture can be corrected. The B pictures in the video signal can be MPEG-based pictures, and as such can have a plurality of slices. In addition, each slice may include a plurality of macroblocks. In order to minimize the object and confusion of the present invention, these macroblocks will be referred to as picture macroblocks. In particular, the portion of B picture replaced by the macroblocks containing the indication may be a predetermined number of plurality of picture macroblocks in at least one of the plurality of slices. It is understood that picture macroblocks of a B picture replaced by macroblocks containing an indication can be any type of macroblock.

3A and 3B can help explain how B pictures can be modified. 3A shows an example of a slice in a B picture that includes picture macroblocks 120, which is a widely practiced standard within many pictures displayed in a digital television. However, it is understood that the method is not limited to this format, as other suitable picture standards can be used to practice the present invention. These picture macroblocks may be referred to as original picture macroblocks. In one configuration, the predetermined number of original picture macroblocks to be replaced by macroblocks that include the indication may be a segment of picture macroblocks in which the last original picture macroblock to be replaced is the last picture macroblock included in the slice. As an example, at least some of the macroblocks that include the indication may replace the last 20 original picture macroblocks of the slice shown in FIG. 3A. Thus, the original picture macroblocks 101-120 of the slice can be replaced by at least some of the macroblocks containing the indication. The above example applies whether the indication occurred during operation or occurred beforehand.

In addition, in order to facilitate the replacement of the original picture macroblocks in the B picture, at least a portion of each of the original picture macroblocks in the slice, ie at least the last original picture macroblock not to be replaced, the slice in which the macroblocks of the indication are placed It can be decrypted for the purpose of determining the position within. For example, continuing the example, at least some (1-100) of the original picture macroblocks may be decoded. This decoding step can help to find the position in the slice where the macroblocks of the indication are placed. In one configuration, this location may be a predetermined default location. In another configuration, this location may be a location selected by the user. It is desirable to replace the original picture macroblocks according to the above discussion, i.e., as no other picture macroblock is predicted from the display macroblock located at the end of the slice, it is desirable to have the display macroblocks at the end of the slice.

However, it is understood that the present invention is not limited to this particular method, as the indication macroblocks may be inserted at any position within the slice. 3B shows an example of how multiple display macroblocks can be placed in a slice such that the last macroblock in the slice is the original picture macroblock. Although the basic alternative steps are the same, there are several minor differences between the modification step of FIG. 3A and the modification step of FIG. 3B. In this example, the original picture macroblocks 50 to 70 may be replaced by at least some of the macroblocks containing the indication. As the last macroblock in the slice is not a display macroblock, the original picture macroblock (macroblock 71) adjacent to the last display macroblock (macroblock 70), if necessary, predicts the next picture macroblock to reduce the likelihood of problems. It can be modified to make. This correction process may depend on whether certain original picture macroblocks are I macroblocks.

In the following example, at least a part of the original picture macroblocks 1 to 71 of the slice shown in FIG. 3B can be decoded. In one configuration, some of the original picture macroblocks to be decoded may be motion vectors present in each picture macroblock. Similar to the process shown in Fig. 3A, this decoding step can help to find the desired position in the slice where the display macroblocks can be placed. Moreover, this decoding step can also determine which of the original picture macroblocks are I macroblocks. In this example, if the original picture macroblock 70 or the original picture macroblock 71 is determined to be I macroblocks, the original picture macroblocks 50 to 70 may be replaced by at least some of the macroblocks of the indication. There is no need to modify any remaining original picture macroblocks to ensure proper subsequent predictions.

For this example, if the original picture macroblocks 70 and 71 are not I macroblocks, the original picture macroblock adjacent to the last display macroblock (macroblock 71) can be modified. In one configuration, the original picture macroblock 71 may be recoded such that the motion vector of the original picture macroblock 71 is reset to an actual value rather than an initially predicted value. Thus subsequent predictions from the original picture macroblock 71 will not be altered by replacement of the display macroblocks and the original picture macroblocks. It is understood that the present invention is not limited to the examples discussed with respect to FIGS. 3A and 3B. In practice, the B pictures can be replaced with an indication in which at least a portion of the picture represents a user command, whereby the picture can be modified in any other suitable manner such that the indication to be displayed as the picture is displayed. In addition, any suitable number of original picture macroblocks of any suitable number of slices in any number of pictures may be replaced by desired display macroblocks.

The present invention can also be applied to B pictures. In particular, the processes shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B can also be applied to P pictures. The invention can also be practiced for I pictures; However, modifying any original picture macroblocks (discussed with respect to FIG. 3B) is generally unnecessary, as all original picture macroblocks in an I picture are I macroblocks. The invention is also applicable to dummy B and dummy P images. These pictures may be present in the video signal, especially during user commands such as trick mode.

Although the invention has been described with reference to the embodiments disclosed herein, it is to be understood that the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and not to limit the scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

Claims (17)

Generating and transmitting to the display device a signal comprising a plurality of digitally encoded pictures to be decoded by the display device 120, including a user command or an indicia representing status information associated with the playback or recorder device. As a method,  Receiving a digitally encoded video signal having a plurality of pictures from a signal source; And Generating a digitally encoded representation indicative of the user command or status information. At least a portion of the digitally encoded representation includes intra coded macroblocks, the method comprising: Replace at least one of the plurality of pictures by replacing at least a portion of the picture with the intra-encoded macroblocks so that the display can be decoded and displayed when the picture is decoded and displayed by the display device. Modifying; And Transmitting said digitally encoded video signal comprising said modified picture to said display device. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving step includes reading the digitally encoded video signal from a storage medium, wherein the generating and modifying steps are performed during the reading step. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the digitally encoded representation is MPEG encoded. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the picture is a bidirectional predictive picture comprising a plurality of slices, each slice comprising a plurality of picture macroblocks. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the portion of the bidirectional predictive picture that is replaced by the intra macroblocks that includes the indication is a predetermined number of the plurality of picture macroblocks in at least one of the plurality of slices. Signal generation and transmission method. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein at least one of the plurality of picture macroblocks in at least one of the plurality of slices, replaced by one of the intra macroblocks including the indication, of the picture macroblock. At the end of the corresponding slice. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving step includes reading the digitally encoded signal from a storage medium, wherein the generating step is performed before the reading step and the modifying step is performed during the reading step. Transmission method. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the digitally encoded representation is stored in a table to be accessed during the modification step. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the picture is a bidirectional predictive picture comprising a plurality of slices, each slice comprising a plurality of picture macroblocks. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the portion of the bidirectional predictive picture replaced by the intra macroblocks including the indication is a predetermined number of the plurality of picture macroblocks in at least one of the plurality of slices. Signal generation and transmission method. 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein at least one of the plurality of picture macroblocks in at least one of the plurality of slices, replaced by one of the intra macroblocks including the indication, of the picture macroblock. At the end of the corresponding slice. An apparatus for generating encoded digital video signals representing a plurality of images and transmitting the encoded digital video signals to a remote display device 120 having a decoder for decoding and displaying the encoded digital video signals: A signal input unit for receiving a digitally encoded video signal representing a plurality of images; A generator (118) for generating a user command or a digitally encoded representation indicative of status information associated with the apparatus, wherein at least a portion of the digitally encoded representation comprises intra macroblocks; Of the plurality of pictures in the encoded digital video signals by replacing at least a portion of the picture with the intra macroblocks such that the display is decoded and displayed when the picture is decoded and displayed on the display device. A processor (114) coupled to the generator for modifying at least one image in response to an event requiring the display of the user command or the status information; And And a signal output section for transmitting an output signal including the digitally encoded video signal having the modified picture to the remote display device. 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the digitally encoded representation is MPEG encoded. 15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the picture is a bidirectional predictive picture comprising a plurality of slices, each slice comprising a plurality of picture macroblocks. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the portion of the bidirectional predictive picture replaced by the intra macroblocks including the digitally encoded representation comprises a predetermined number of the plurality of picture macros in at least one of the plurality of slices. Blocks, encoded digital video signal generation and transmission apparatus. 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein at least one of the plurality of picture macroblocks in at least one of the plurality of slices, replaced by one of the intra macroblocks including the digitally encoded representation, the picture. Apparatus for generating and transmitting encoded digital video signals located at the ends of corresponding slices of macroblocks. 16. The encoded digital video signal generation of claim 15, further comprising a memory comprising a table, wherein the digitally encoded representation is stored in the table and the processor is further programmed to access the table during the modification operation. And transmission device.

Images